Pandemic led to fewer adolescents vaccinated against HPV, CDC says
Since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced in 2006, the prevalence of the disease — a precursor to a variety of cancers — has plummeted. Despite being the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection in the United States, it has fallen by an order of magnitude.
But that progress could be in jeopardy at the clinics where vaccination takes place, a new CDC study warns. The culprit? The coronavirus, which has upended nearly all aspects of health care.
Those living in rural areas were less likely to be vaccinated. So researchers interviewed clinicians in Iowa, most in rural areas, about how the pandemic affected HPV vaccination.
In the interviews, the clinicians said there had been fewer opportunities to vaccinate adolescents because of changes to their practice precipitated by the pandemic. Clinic regulars started getting care via telehealth, and the number of patients with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and those in need of testing cut down on the amount of time the clinicians had for routine vaccinations. Younger patients were often prioritized for care, and patients proved reluctant to go into the clinic because they feared getting the coronavirus.
Logistics were another hurdle. It became hard to coordinate and implement vaccine clinics, and providers got less education. As priorities shifted, the focus turned away from HPV vaccination because of short staffing and reassignments related to covid-19.
The study reveals a priority shift that could endanger adolescents and young adults who miss out on the vaccine, the researchers write. “Pre-existing low rates of HPV vaccination coupled with the impact of the pandemic threaten to leave adolescents unprotected against HPV and with increased susceptibility to HPV-related cancers,” they say.